how mikey spent his halloween
by Adelfie
Summary: Some of Mikey's classmates summon a demon on Halloween that only he can see. Now he has to deal with the consequences. Human!AU (Nominated for TMNT Universal Reader's Choice Awards: Most In-Character Michelangelo)
1. demon phagocytosis on wednesday

Mikey had never expected to be special, in any sense of the word. His older brothers had already depleted the genetic register of "extraordinary", leaving Mikey to be just ordinary. Regular. Average. Sometimes, during late nights when his brothers had gone to bed but Mikey was up, unable to wrap his head around homework and consequently had to turn it in incomplete the next day, he felt even less than average.

So being able to see a horned, blue-feathered creature emerging from the magic circle Chris Bradford and his dumb friends had drawn on the classroom floor was a bit of a surprise. Even more so when Mikey realized no one else could see it.

"That was dumb," Bradford announced after a pause, staring at the circle drawn with expo marker on the tile. "Nothing happened."

"Still looks cool, though," Xever pointed out. "Adds to the Halloweeny-ness."

 _So does THAT thing, dude!_ Mikey thought frantically, staring at the ten-foot tall demon that loomed over them. It blinked its dark, circular, owl eyes at the classroom, taking it all in.

Mikey swallowed, lowering his pencil from his mouth (Leo _always_ got on him about chewing his pencils, but it was a nervous habit Mikey hadn't figured out how to break) and looked around. Everyone else in homeroom seemed fine, totally unaffected as they worked on various things. Some girls in the back were gossiping and giggling over their phones. Some kids were doing homework, and some others were putting up Halloween decorations on the windows. The teacher, Ms. O'Neil, was typing something up on her laptop, her fingers at lightning-fast speed.

"You boys better clean my floor after you're done playing," she said, her eyes never leaving her laptop screen.

"We're not playing," Fong said, sounding salty. "I found this old drawing of a magic circle in my grandmother's attic. She said her great-grandparents used to be really into studying the supernatural. This thing is practically a relic."

"Well, nothing happened, so maybe your great-great-whatevers were fakes, bro," Xever said.

"Shut up," Fong said, sighing down into the circle. "I really wanted to see something sick nasty."

Mikey stared at them. They really couldn't see the demon. It was completely coated in blue feathers, and it was completely impossible to miss.

"Maybe we did it wrong," Bradford was saying. "Maybe we need, to like, do it in blood or something."

"Absolutely not," retorted their teacher, looking up from her keyboard. "No blood in my classroom."

Mikey blinked and refocused on the demon. Chills traveled down his spine. Maybe he wasn't special. Maybe he was just insane-was it possible for healthy, 14-year-olds to start hallucinating? He hadn't been getting the best sleep lately, but this was ridiculous, right?

The demon finally turned its head to Mikey, and upon seeing his shocked stare, its eyes grew three times in size. Mikey dropped his pencil.

"Dude," he whispered to no one in particular. What the heck?

His heart jumped into his throat as the thing took a single stride towards him, its long legs crossing half the room. When it reached out its long arm to touch him, Mikey let out a shriek and bolted out of his chair. The thing froze, arm extended.

"Michelangelo?" Ms. O'Neil asked, looking in his direction.

"Uh," Mikey clambered up from the floor, earning some giggles from the girls in the back. "Yes?"

Ms. O'Neil had a wrinkle of concern across her forehead. Mikey often had to see that wrinkle, especially when Ms. O'Neil was talking to him. He suspected it was because she was confused at how starkly different he was from Donnie, who she'd had only a few years ago. Donnie had been a straight-A student. Mikey could barely make Bs and Cs.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

Mikey let out a shaky laugh.

"Um, no," he said, trying not to scream. "I mean, not really. I mean, uh, may I be excused?"

Before Ms. O'Neil could answer, Mikey picked up his backpack and bolted out of the room, hearing a belated whine of "How come _he_ gets to leave?" from someone in the classroom.

Out in the hallway, Mikey set his backpack on the floor and sank to the tile floor, rubbing his eyes ferociously. He was obviously sleep-deprived. Maybe he was getting a cold. It was autumn, after all. He stood to his feet and sluggishly started for the main office, but stopped cold in his tracks when he felt a presence behind him.

A blue feather dropped on his shoulder.

Mikey felt a little piece of his soul fly to heaven. Whipping around, he slammed his right leg into the demon's knee. It was a smooth kick, ingrained into him from years of training with his father and brothers in the dojo.

The creature moaned sadly, but didn't budge. Mikey jumped away from it and turned to run. Engaging in combat with one of his hallucinations was totally not on his to-do list today.

"This is so weird, this is so weird!" Mikey yelled as the creature bounded after him on his long limbs. "Leave me alone, dude!"

Reaching the end of the hall with no exit, Mikey spun around and held his fists up. At the same time, his eyes darted the hallway for an escape. The creature broke into a run at him, and then all Mikey could see were blue feathers.

He couldn't breathe as the creature strangle-hugged him, loose wing-like limbs engulfing him completely. Mikey struggled to get away, but the blue feathers clamped around his body with undeniable strength, pulling him in. Mikey let out a scream. This was how he was going to die. Not by eating too much pizza, as his brothers had predicted once, but by being engulfed through a phagocytosis-like process by a demon his classmates had unwittingly summoned.

 _Raph won't let me hear the end of it,_ Mikey thought morosely as he fell through the feathers. _Also, I can't believe I actually remembered 'phagocytosis'. Take that, biology._

Then he was falling, the feathers having sucked him into the demon. He let out a scream as he hurled through a starry night sky, towards gem-studded rocks amid a glowing blue ocean.

It was certainly not an average thing to happen to a teenager on a Wednesday.


	2. bird murderers, still on wednesday

**Disclaimer: TMNT doesn't belong to me, of course.**

* * *

Halloween was meant to be a spooky day, sure, but Mikey was going to go on a limb and guess that this was something that didn't just _happen_ to people, no matter what day of the year it was.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" Mikey called out for the hundredth time, letting his voice get lost in the soft crashes of waves in the distance.

He let out a shaky breath and sank to his designated rock, studded with gems like the rest of the countless boulders that jutted out of the glowing water. His heartbeat thundered in his ears from his earlier panic when he'd fallen, despite having a somehow gentle landing.

Closing his eyes, Mikey tried not to think about the craziness of it all. Okay, sure. He was in the stomach of a demon that didn't look like a stomach at all. Actually, it looked like it could be one of Leo's overly dramatic scenic desktop backgrounds. And sure, he didn't know why the demon had chased _him_. Or why he could see it and no one else could. Or even where the demon had come from, for crying out loud!

Well, that was a lie. He knew _that_. Bradford and his friends had summoned the creature out of the floor with that totally spooky magic circle.

"Right, Fong's relic from his grandma!" Mikey said aloud. "That's what summoned this dumb thing!"

The world around Mikey _rumbled_ at that. Shrieking, Mikey fell off his perch and into the shallow water with a splash, his right palm sliding over a sharp gem as he tried unsuccessfully to grab hold of something.

" _Ow_ ," Mikey yelped, sitting up in the shallow water as the sting began to make itself known. "What gives?"

The world groaned again, and Mikey swore he saw the stars shaking in their places in the sky like everything was connected.

Which made sense. This was all inside the demon. Lowering his bloody hand, Mikey came to a realization: the demon could probably hear him.

"Hey!" he shouted. "Demon dude! Is there any chance you could let me out? Because that would be _super convenient!_ "

No response. Mikey groaned.

"Okay, I'm _sorry_ I called you dumb! Raph is a bad influence!"

This time, the demon responded, but inside of shaking everything like Mikey was inside a snowglobe, the sky started to change. Mikey frowned as the starry night disappeared, and a new scene came into view around him.

And just like that, no longer was he sitting in the water. Instead, he was sitting on a wooden floor, inside a place that looked very, very familiar.

A bell rang from somewhere, followed by a familiar voice in a charming Japanese accent.

"Welcome to Mr. Murakami's Noodle Shop!"

Mikey could have kissed the floor. He jumped up, coming face-to-face with the friendly face he'd known since he was in middle school. He'd never been happier to see the elderly man with the pleasant smile and kind eyes, and that was saying something because he was always happy to see Mr. Murakami.

"Mr. Murakami! I-," Mikey gasped as someone walked in front of him, by going right _through_ him.

His mouth dropped open as he watched a group of kids a little older than him march into the noodle shop. They looked vaguely familiar, but as Mikey stumbled backward, it was clear that none of them could see _him_. Not even Mr. Murakami.

"Ah, new faces," Mr. Murakami said with a kind greeting. "What can I do for you today?"

"Can you make me a sandwich?" one of them, a girl with red eyeliner, mocked. "Or is all you eat rice and noodles?"

The other teens snickered, and Mr. Murakami smiled politely, unfazed, but Mikey could see the man tense, ever so slightly, just like how Raph did when he was disgruntled but didn't want to show it in public. Raph could never hold it for too long, though. Sooner or later, there was always a fight.

Mikey watched the kids order their food properly, and leave, slamming the door behind them. One of the teens remained, though. His black hair was choppy and short, and he had a few teeth missing. Something about him was familiar.

"Sorry, man," he said quietly. "My friends can be jerks."

Mr. Murakami glanced at him. "One would wonder why someone like you keeps company like that."

The guy shrugged, laughing awkwardly and looking away. "Don't tell them this, but I don't have any other options."

"You always have other options," Mr. Murakami said, just as there was a tapping on the window. "Oh, there's my daily visitor."

Mikey turned to see what was causing the tapping, and nearly lost his marbles when he saw what it was: the demon.

Well, not the demon, not really. It was just a blue bird with large eyes. But there was no doubt in Mikey's mind that there was a resemblance. The eyes were trained on Mr. Murakami as the bird tapped on the glass with its beak.

"Whoa," the kid muttered behind Mikey as Mr. Murakami opened the window and set a bowl of nuts out for the bird.

"Can't let him in here, but it's nice to have the company," Mr. Murakami said. "He's been visiting me for over a month now."

"Cool," Mikey said, even though no one could hear him.

"So you're like, friends," the guy joked.

"I would like to think so," Mr. Murakami said.

The scene faded, and suddenly Mikey was standing back in the water, surrounded by the black rocks.

"That was _you_ ," he said aloud. "You're Mr. Murakami's bird friend."

He could have imagined it, but the gems glistened. Then the scenery changed again, and this time, Mikey wasn't in a familiar place. It was some alleyway, with voices talking from nearby.

"Ten bucks you can't do it."

"Shut up, Angel."

It was those kids from before. The girl with the red eyeliner was goading a big, buff guy into doing something.

The guy with the missing teeth was also there, in the back and on his phone, completely ignoring his friends' activities.

The buff guy held a rock in his hand, and he was aiming for something.

Mikey turned and looked up, only to grimace.

"No, don't," he protested, despite his voice not reaching their ears.

The rock didn't reach anywhere close to its mark. It overshot, sailing into a dumpster across the street rather than the streetlamp.

"Great _work_ , Hun!" the girl said sarcastically.

"Shut _up_ , Angel. I'll try again."

"Nah, you'll scare it away. Let me show you how it's done," the girl named Angel said. Picking up another rock, she shot it straight and swiftly without a warning.

Mikey winced as the bluebird-Mr. Murakami's bluebird-fell from the impact of the stone. It met the ground with a weak smack that made something in Mikey's heart hurt, and he couldn't look.

"Ha! Sweet! Casey, come look," Angel said.

Casey finally looked up from his phone, then his features turned into a frown. "Did you guys just… kill a bird?"

"Yeah, what of it, man?" Hun demanded, turning on him.

Casey looked at him, then to the bird. "Nothing. Nothing, I just wasn't paying attention."

He might have said something else, but Mikey was already back in the water with the rocks, his heart heavy.

"So that's what happened," he said, his brain desperately trying to put everything together. "They killed you, and that's why you're… well, that's why my classmates were able to summon you. You're like a ghost."

The gems twinkled around him in agreement.

 _Or,_ Mikey thought, remembering all the bedtime stories that his father used to tell him about the creatures that were spirit-like and not able to be seen by the normal eye. _A yokai._

"Cool," Mikey exclaimed. "I've literally never been able to see you guys before today. Is it because-wait, _duuuude_. Is it because today's Halloween?"

Only one gem 'blinked' at him, indicating something like a shrug.

"It's probably because today's Halloween," Mikey confirmed. "Spooky stuff _always_ happens on Halloween. Also, Leo's going to kill me."

The gems blinked rapidly at him. Waves of concern radiated off the rocks.

"No, not really _kill_ me! It's just an expression. Means I'm in trouble, you know? Because… technically I skipped school. Which is on you, by the way. Sorry, not sorry."

The scene shifted around Mikey one last time, briefly, to show Mr. Murakami's image wistfully peering out the window, where a bowl of nuts had been set, but no bird was in sight.

Mikey was getting better at understanding the demon that had engulfed him into his stomach-world.

"He doesn't know, does he?" he said softly. "Don't worry, bird-dude. I'll tell Mr. Murakami what happened. You can rest in peace _then,_ right?"

The yokai seemed to like that because then Mikey was surrounded by feathers, and he was falling again.

* * *

 _It can't have been that long,_ Mikey tried to lie to himself as he ran back home through the rain. It had taken him ten minutes until the nauseous feeling subsided (who knew one could get motion sick from interdimensional travel?) and then another ten to find his backpack in the hallway. School had already been dismissed _hours_ ago, though.

So yeah, it hadn't been one of those Narnia-like experiences where no time had passed at all while he was in the other world.

The trek back home was longer than usual, too, because a.) it was raining, and b.) Mikey's hand was still sore from getting cut from one of the yokai's stomach gems. This would be a doozy to explain to his brothers.

After checking his phone and the, oof, forty-six unread messages from his family, Mikey had taken cautious measures to text the brother who was the least likely to get mad at him. Good ol' Donnie.

When he got to their house, the front door swung open before he touched the doorknob, a brown-haired teen appearing in the doorframe.

Donnie's eyes flashed with relief as he grabbed Mikey by the shoulders.

"Thank god you're alive," he said. Then, in a much flatter tone, "Leo's going to _kill_ you."

* * *

 **Thanks for sticking around :) Please leave a review and tell me what you thought!**


	3. emotional truth beans on wednesday, too

**Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me. Enjoy!**

* * *

When Mikey faced Leo in the kitchen, he expected to face the wrath of his oldest brother and braced for the onslaught of _where have you been_ and _do you know how late it is, the trick-or-treaters are already out_. But Mikey didn't hear any of that. When he raised his head, he saw Leo only frowning, opening and closing his mouth as if he weren't sure how to put his first sentence together.

Mikey looked down at the floor. Not getting yelled at was worse, somehow. But he needed to come clean and let Leo know that it _wasn't his fault,_ that a _demon_ had kidnapped him-

"Your report card came in," Leo said shortly, finally. "For the first quarter."

Hearing _that_ took the wind out of Mikey's sails, his heartbeat starting up again. Hadn't he gone through enough today? That being said, he would have rather been getting chased by the demon than this.

No _wonder_ Donnie had told him that Leo was going to kill him. He'd been meaning the late thing _and_ the report card thing.

" _Ohhh_ ," Mikey whispered under his breath, realizing the stakes. Double whammy. He was a goner.

"All _C's and D's,_ Mikey?" Leo said despairingly. "Come on. I thought we talked about better studying techniques, the whole _preparing ahead_ thing. Your grades should have improved."

"At least they didn't go _down_ ," Mikey muttered, very aware of the fact that Donnie and Raph were in the living room, pretending not to listen.

"I thought we were making progress," Leo exclaimed, bringing Mikey's attention back. "What happened?"

"I don't know!" Mikey said, feeling his defenses rise up. "I don't know. I tried."

"Try _harder_ ," Leo said, and his dark blue eyes bore into Mikey's baby blue ones.

Mikey took a step back, hurt etching into his chest. _Try harder._ Why did that hurt so much? _Try harder, Mikey, because you're not good enough._

"Focus, Mikey," Leo said. "Remember what Sensei used to say? _Focus_ to achieve your goals."

Mikey bit his bottom lip. "Okay, yeah, I remember."

"Really? Because it doesn't look like you do," Leo said with a sigh, turning around to the stove, where it looked like he was making soup. "I don't think Sensei ever had to tell one of _us_ to get better grades in school. Even Raph pulled his weight and got all As and Bs at the end of each semester."

Something burned inside Mikey, an unpleasant, awful sensation he'd never felt before.

But Leo kept talking. "You have to study, Mikey. You can't goof off and expect everything to work out without giving it any effort."

"But I am giving it effort _,_ " Mikey said, but his voice was soft and quiet. "School isn't easy for me."

"Fine," Leo said with a heavy sigh. "We'll talk about that later. In the meantime, you can go upstairs and do your homework tonight, and come up with an explanation of why I got a call from your teacher reporting that you cut half the school day today."

That gave Mikey pause.

"Wait, I didn't," he said, trying to ignore the gross, icky feeling in his stomach. "I didn't get to tell you why I was late."

"Please do tell," Leo said.

Mikey opened his mouth, but all the earlier excitement of that day felt as if it had dried out. Leo's disappointment had that effect on him.

"I saw a yokai," Mikey said finally.

Leo stared at him. "Sorry, what?"

"A yokai," Mikey repeated. "You know, the ones Fa-Sensei used to tell us about? Well, Bradford and his friends summoned one, and I was the only one who could see it, and it's supposedly Mr. Murakami's old bird friend but-"

Leo's face fell, and Mikey stopped, uncertain of what was happening. Disappointment flitted away to anger, and Mikey took a step back.

"I can't believe you're _lying_ to me," Leo shot, looking mad. "Don't you know when enough's enough?"

"But I'm telling the truth!"

"Go to your room, Mikey!"

"You can't tell me what to do, Leo!"

"You're grounded for _so_ many reasons!"

" _You're not Dad!_ " Mikey yelled, finally, his voice cracking. "You're not him, no matter how much you try to be, okay? You'll never be him."

There was a rustle, and suddenly Donnie and Raph appeared in the kitchen, ready for damage control. But they froze at the sight of Mikey.

Mikey realized he was crying. Oops. Too late.

"I hate this," he said, ready to get everything out. "You try to act like Dad and try to control everything and tell me what to do, but lately it doesn't even feel like you love me."

Leo's eyes widened, all anger gone, replaced with shock and maybe a little bit of fear.

Mikey needed to get out. He grabbed his phone and raced to the front door, ignoring the shouts behind him.

"Mikey, wait!"

"Come back, little brother!"

But Mikey tore out of the house, past the trick-or-treaters and into the night. He was going to feel guilty for this later, he just knew it. But for now, he needed to get some air. And he knew the perfect place.

Mr. Murakami's.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading :) Please leave a review, and tell me what y'all thought of this chapter! Thanks!**


	4. crazy dumb plan on wednesday, part 1

**A/N: So we've reached the climax of the story, kinda-and according to my notes, it's going to be 2 parts. Sorry for the wait, life has been super busy. But here it is!**

 **Disclaimer: TMNT does not belong to me!**

* * *

"Uh, one-hundred-nine?"

"Try again, Michelangelo. With more focus this time."

"But I've already _done_ it twice, and I'm still wrong," Mikey said, hating how worked up he sounded. He let his pencil drop on his math textbook and watched it roll to the inside crack of the spine. "Maybe I'm just not special enough."

Sitting at the kitchen table, Hamato Yoshi gave his youngest son probably his wildest look of bewilderment _ever_. Mikey shifted his gaze downward at his turtle-themed socks, feeling heat rising in his throat from his father's judgemental gaze. The last time Yoshi had looked this perplexed was when Mikey was _four_ and Raph was _nine_ and they had given him a bottle of water as a Christmas gift. Of course, later they'd explained how the snowman they were building for him had melted, and Yoshi had deeply appreciated the sentiment, but the level of _what-on-earth-child_ was about the same.

Now Mikey shifted in his seat at the table, bracing himself. He hadn't meant that last bit to slip. Lately the little voice in his head seemed to be _determined_ to bring him down. He just hadn't meant to let his negativity _spread_. Now his father was going to ask about it, and it was all just so _embarrassing._

As expected, the question came not much later.

"Whatever do you mean?"

The question was calm, kind, and patient-everything Yoshi was and everything Mikey was familiar with. Mikey felt the embarrassment dwindle as he looked at his father's deep brown, trusting eyes. If he couldn't tell his father, who else _could_ he tell?

"It's Leo and Raph and Donnie," Mikey said finally, pulling his arms out of his hoodie sleeves to curl around his midsection. "I was just thinking the other day. They're good at _everything_. Leo got a full-ride into college. Raph gets good grades _and_ is quarterback. Donnie won that statewide quiz bowl thing last year and got the school a _trophy_. But I'm not special like they are. I'm _worse._ I can't even do my homework without help."

Yoshi tilted his head thoughtfully.

"I did not know you felt this way about yourself," he said after a moment. "But I feel foolish for not seeing it sooner. As the youngest, it can be hard to be seen from the overlapping shadows of others."

"Tell me about it," Mikey said, his gaze dropping to his math homework. "The teachers are always super surprised to hear who I'm related to."

"The teachers may not know you, but I do, child. Do you remember Stockman's Trail?"

Mikey's mind flashed to a family hike, last spring break. He immediately perked up, remembering the hilarious family getaway-a nature hike had been Donnie's idea, because their low budget didn't really offer that many other options. (Mikey's secret theory was that Donnie just wanted pictures for his extra credit project in AP Biology.)

"Uh, totally!" he said with a grin. "That was so much fun."

A corner of Yoshi's mouth quirked up. "You were the first out of the four of you to adapt to the new surroundings. I didn't have to remind you to stay quiet to not disturb the wildlife. Something I had to remind Raphael many times of. _You,_ however, ran up the slopes with a high level of agility and quietness without even noticing it."

"I did?" Mikey asked. All he remembered was having a blast in the woods, even though Raph had complained a lot.

"And during the summer, when a storm rolled in and everyone was advised to stay inside-you built a playing card tower," Yoshi pointed out. "You broke Donatello's record, if I remember correctly."

"But that was just for fun," Mikey said, trailing off.

Yoshi paused. "But Michelangelo," he said. "Do you not see what I am saying? You are no less intelligent than your brothers. Not at all. When you truly focus, you have a great, perhaps even _greater_ potential, just waiting to be unlocked. It's something I haven't seen in one individual in a long time."

The kindness in Yoshi's words, the _genuineness_ of it, was too much. Without warning, Mikey launched himself at his father, burying his face in the robes.

"Thanks, Dad," he said, smiling into the robes when he felt his father's arms envelope him in warmth and reassurance.

It was one of the last conversations Mikey ever had with his father.

* * *

Mikey had stopped crying ten minutes ago, but the embarrassment was still fresh as he walked through the last street that Mr. Murakami's shop was on. The cold October air made him break out in goosebumps, and he wished he'd thought to grab his jacket on the way out. Or heck, even shoes. His socks weren't doing much to block out the uncomfortable pebbles or the cold sidewalk he walked on.

At least Mr. Murakami would have hot soup for him. Mr. Murakami was cool like that.

But as Mikey neared the familiar shop, it became clear that something was very wrong. For one thing, there was a police car parked in front of the noodle shop. The second thing was that the window was busted.

Completely shattered. Shards of glass lay out on the grass, in Mr. Murakami's garden, and across the sidewalk. Through the lack of a window, Mikey could see Mr. Murakami explaining something to a policeman, who was taking notes.

Mikey slowed to a stop, taking in the scene.

"Hey, Mikey," someone greeted, and Mikey turned to see Bradford, Xever, and Fong-all dressed up as a ninja, cyborg, and zombie respectively.

"Dude, it's cool that you came out," Bradford said. "Mad respect. Everyone in our class thinks its lame to trick-or-treat now."

 _What? But trick-or-treating is the best part of Halloween,_ part of Mikey's brain wanted to say, but what actually came out was, "What happened?"

"Oh, here? We saw it happen. Two kids basically slingshot rocks into the window. I think they were drunk," Xever said with a shrug. "Looked like they were from the high school."

"Angel and Hun," Mikey realized under his breath, and looked back at the shattered window. That was so _dumb._ Why couldn't they leave Mr. Murakami alone?

Something glinted a little bit differently in the glass shards, and Mikey squinted before reeling back.

It was a blue feather. And then some more, scattered loosely. As if… there had been a struggle.

Mikey's stomach dropped. If the yokai had seen the kids smashing Mr. Murakami's window… then…

" _Ihavetogothankyoubye!_ " Mikey shouted all at once before darting across the street in his socks, making sure to avoid the glass on the ground at all costs. He wouldn't be much help if he was hurt-that is, if those high school kids were in trouble.

"What now?" Fong could be heard from somewhere far behind him, but Mikey had no time to explain. He darted down an alleyway, following the trail of blue feathers, running as fast as he could, making twists and turns along the way.

The trail suddenly seemed to end somewhere deep in the alley, and Mikey wasn't sure where exactly they were, but all rationale thoughts of how he was going to find his way back home left him when he looked up.

In the yellow glow of the streetlamps, on the dusty, dirty alleyway, Mikey saw it.

If there were so many different words for spirits, such as yokais and demons and ghosts and monsters-then at this very moment, Mikey would have gone with _physical manifestation of nightmares._

Oh, it was Mr. Murakami's bird friend yokai all right-but it had changed. Its blue feathers were now tinged black, the source of the dark color coming from the center of its stomach, where a single foot was sticking out from the knee, a spiked-toe flat, quickly sinking in like quicksand.

And for some reason, Mikey had a feeling that this time, the yokai had no intention of letting them back out.

"No!" Mikey shouted. "You can't hurt them!"

Reaching out, Mikey grabbed Angel's ankle and pulled. The yokai roared, and Mikey filed the memory away for his nightmares later.

"Let her go! You can't do this! I know they're jerks, but you can't!" Mikey shouted to the unrelenting

There was a movement behind him, and Mikey turned his head out of instinct. It was a mistake. He lost his grip on Angel's leg, and it disappeared in with the yokai's feathers.

"No!" Mikey yelled, only to get harshly shoved away onto the gravelly ground.

"Hey, are you okay?" someone behind him shouted, and Mikey turned to see a kid with a gap in his teeth.

It was the kid from before, the one who had apologized to Mr. Murakami. The one who needed better friends. _Casey._ Mikey had no idea how he still had enough sanity to piece that to together, but he forced himself to stand, only to feel blood drip down his chin.

"It really did a number on you," Casey said in awe, and Mikey saw that he was crouching behind some trash cans, face pale. "Are you, like, okay?"

"No. Yes. I don't know," Mikey said, turning to face the agitated yokai.

"What is that thing?" Casey asked, pointing to the yokai.

"You can see it too?" Mikey asked in surprised.

"It's literally, like ten, feet tall! How can I not? Besides, it appeared out of nowhere and ate my friends. Er, well, it ate them through its stomach," the kid said, making a face.

"Huh. You seem awfully calm about it."

"Well, I mean. It's Halloween."

"That's not an excuse for something to eat your friends!"

"Oh, I agree. It's just, I've terrified myself out. Or I may have just lost my grip on reality?" Casey shrugged

The yokai roared, getting their attention again, and Mikey gasped as the yokai began to shuffle towards them.

"Oh, no. Oh no oh no oh no. Do we have weapons?" Casey muttered, and from behind the garbage bins, produced a couple broken hockey sticks and a long rope.

"Giant… nunchucks?" Mikey suggested dubiously as the yokai got closer. Casey shrugged, dropped the rope, and lifted one of the hockey sticks as a battering ram.

Mikey's could hear his heartbeat in his ears. This whole thing had started with Fong's summoning circle. If _only_ Mikey had waited two seconds to ask Fong about his family. Maybe there was a _banishing_ circle, or something.

But of course, Mikey hadn't thought ahead that far. All he had at his disposal was some kid he'd just met, and some trash.

Wait. Mikey stared at the yokai, which looked less bird-like and more monster-like with its corrupted feathers. If consuming two delinquents in a rage had brought on this change, maybe the only person in the world who could turn it back around was… Mr. Murakami.

"Okay," Mikey said, and grabbed the rope Casey had dropped. Then he jumped, waving his arms up and down. "Hey, yokai dude! There's more guys troubling Mr. Murakami! Follow me!"

It was good enough bait. Just exactly as Mikey predicted, the yokai lifted its head, its eyes flashing. Leaving Casey, it began to run at Mikey, who turned and started to follow the broken-off blue feathers on the ground.

"What are you doing?" Casey shouted, following from behind.

"I think I know what to do!" Mikey shouted back, and ran as fast as he could to get a headstart.

Mikey re-entered the street, and was relieved to see Mr. Murakami sweeping up the glass on the pavement.

"Oh, Mikey, your older brother called just now-" he began, but Mikey cut him off.

"Mr. Murakamiyouhavetoseethispleasethere'sayokaiwhowantsrevengeandheatetwopeoplewellnotreallyatebutit'scomplicated-," Mikey took a deep breath, "And you're the only one who can help them!"

Mr. Murakami blinked. "What?"

As fast as he could, Mikey tried to explain. As he talked, he tied one end of the rope around his waist securely, and handed the other end to Mr. Murakami. Somewhere in his ramble he included his plan, but it all still sounded like a jumble of words to him.

Casey appeared behind Mikey. "It's coming," he said, out of breath.

"My bird visitor?" Mr. Murakami said softly. "He's a _yokai_ now?"

The ground shook, and Mikey turned around, bracing himself. "This is either a really brave plan or a really dumb one."

Casey looked over at him, and at the rope, and gulped audibly. "Yup," he said. "You're insane."

The yokai emerged before Mikey had time to think of a proper thing to say to Mr. Murakami, like a message to pass on to his brothers if he got stuck in a yokai's belly for the rest of eternity.

The yokai came to a screeching halt at the sight of Mr. Murakami.

Mikey and Casey looked at him. Mr. Murakami looked at both of their faces.

"What? Is it here?" he asked.

"It's right in front of us," Mikey said.

"You _can't_ see it?" Casey asked Mr. Murakami in awe.

"I guess… not?" Mr. Murakami said in bewilderment.

The yokai roared, and Mikey, Casey, _and_ Mr. Murakami flinched.

" _That_ I heard," Mr. Murakami muttered. "I've read about yokai. Are you sure, Mikey, that this one is the bird that came to visit me?"

"I am positive," Mikey said. "He's just really _mad_ right now."

"Then there's only one way," Mr. Murakami said, and took a deep breath. Taking a step forward, he faced the yokai he couldn't see, and said, "Hello, old friend."

The yokai stilled. Mikey saw his chance. Making sure Mr. Murakami and Casey had a solid grip on the rope, he ran forward, and dived into the yokai's feathery stomach.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! Please leave a review, they always make my day! :)**

 **Next chapter: Mikey's master plan in action, exploring the yokai's stomach dimension, and some concerned older brothers**


	5. crazy dumb plan on wednesday, part 2

**Disclaimer: TMNT does not belong to me.**

 **I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Feathers engulfed Mikey, and for a second, he couldn't breathe. But then he was out on the other side, pitching forward to fall through the stars and towards the glowing ocean.

Well, not quite. The rope suddenly went taut.

"Oof!" Mikey went, and whimpered, curling his hands around his tummy as he swung from the sky. "Ouch."

Looking down, Mikey could see the vast world of the yokai's stomach from a bird's eye view. Huh. That was funny. _Bird's_ eye view. But it wasn't the same as before. The sky was black rather than deep indigo, and the ocean glowed red instead of light blue.

 _It's totally raging right now,_ Mikey realized. _Something tells me it's not going to be giving anyone the ultimate 4D cinematic experience this time around..._

Down below, Mikey caught sight of two familiar faces. It was Angel and Hun! They stood on one of the gem-studded rocks, both looking entirely freaked out. At the sight of Mikey, they began waving their arms frantically. Hun cupped his hands around his mouth to shout.

"Hey!" he yelled. "Help!"

"Trying!" Mikey yelled back. "Just… hang on!"

Ignoring the irony as he hung in the sky, Mikey glanced back up at the rope, which seemed to disappear into nothing a few feet above him, back out the stomach portal.

"Uh, Mr. Murakami? Casey?" he called. "I could use, like, a _lot_ more rope!"

No answer. That was odd. Mikey was _sure_ they had more rope. Unless… his plan hadn't worked, and Mr. Murakami couldn't calm the yokai down!

"No!" Mikey repositioned himself and began to climb up the rope, utilizing those upper body muscles he had just about enough of. He couldn't let anyone get hurt on his account!

Shoving through the portal, Mikey felt the feathers again, and suddenly the top half of his body was back in his normal world. Well, as normal as it could be.

"It's okay, my friend," Mr. Murakami was saying to the yokai.

He was okay! So was Casey, holding on to the rope. The yokai had stopped moving around as much, as if Mr. Murakami's voice was an anchor. Mikey sighed in relief. But why had _his_ anchor gotten so tight?

" _Mikey?_ " a screech exploded into the air.

Uh-oh.

Leo, Raph, and Donnie were racing towards the scene, their dusty family sedan hastily parallel parked on the side of the street. When they saw him, Mikey saw their faces pale like nothing he'd ever seen before. Looks of horror appeared on their faces, and it took Mikey a moment to realized why.

They could only see the _top half_ of his body. The bottom half of him was gone, from their perspective.

Mikey stared at them. "Uh, I can explain. Sort of-AAHH!"

The yokai roared in alarm, shaking and ruffling his feathers.

"MIKEY!" Leo shouted. " _What-what-where is-_ "

"Stay calm," Mr. Murakami said loudly to the yokai, who was moving around now.

"HOW CAN WE STAY CALM?" Raph shouted, his hands reaching out to grab Mikey, but missing as the yokai turned and pushed him away with one wing. Raph stumbled, but caught his step. " _What was that?_ Donnie, call-call the-call _someone_!"

But Donnie, the brains of the team, was too busy screaming bloody murder. Mikey held onto the rope for dear life as the yokai began to flap his wings, panicked by the loud voices.

"Who the heck are _they?_ " Casey yelled, still holding onto the rope tightly.

"Mikey!" Leo yelled. "What's going on?"

Mikey screamed as the yokai flailed. "Hold still!"

" _Where's the other half of your body?_ " Donnie wailed.

"Breathe, my friend! It's all well!" Mr. Murakami shouted. "Just listen to the sound of my-"

But the yokai screeched loudly into the actually sky, and Mikey's grip on the rope nearly broke loose. He didn't have much time. Over the chaos, he spotted Casey, who had a firm grip on the rope still.

"I need more rope!" he shouted. "Casey!"

Casey looked at him. "I don't know how much is enough!" he yelled.

"Just let go until the end, and be prepared to pull us all up!" Mikey shouted. As an afterthought, he looked at Leo, Raph, and Donnie, who all looked stricken. "It's okay. Trust me!"

Then he pushed himself back into the feathers, Leo's open mouth and outstretched hand to stop him the last thing he saw.

* * *

The world around him looked different the third time, too. Now the ocean was rising, the sky was spinning, and oh-oh. He was falling.

The landing was soft, and when Mikey opened his eyes and stood, he saw Angel and Hun, huddled together on a boulder.

 _Say something cool and heroic, like in the movies,_ Mikey thought.

He opened his mouth.

"Hi… there." _Cool, cool. Nailed it._

"Who are you? What is this place? How do we get out?" Angel demanded, standing up.

"All I remember is we were walking down the street and then I was falling!" Hun said. "And now we're in a different world! How are we in a different world? Is this Narnia?"

Mikey outstretched his hand. "I'll explain later. Right now we need to book it. We don't belong here!"

"It's not Narnia?" Hun asked sadly. "Then are we in Hell?"

"Okay, look dude, just take my hand-whoa!" Mikey said, as the ground rumbled.

The stars in the sky blinked out, just like that, and the rope above Mikey's head swayed in the wind. The boulders they were on began to move, and the ocean level-was it his imagination, or was it rising?

The red glow of the ocean seemed to get brighter as the water rose around them. Mikey jumped off his boulder to Angel's and Hun's before they got too far away.

"Do either of you know how to climb rope?" Mikey asked.

Hun shook his head. Angel shrugged. "I can try," she offered, but then the water splashed down on them.

They all gasped for breath when the wave subsided.

"No time!" Mikey yelped and held out the rope. Angel and Hun grabbed on, and he tugged at it twice.

The rope began to pull in response. First it was weak, and then it grew stronger. Mikey felt his feet leave the boulder.

Suddenly, the rope snapped from above them, and the three of them came crashing down. Angel and Hun screamed, falling into the water.

"No!" Mikey yelled, falling onto a boulder. "Let us out!"

The water poured down on him again. Mikey felt the power of the wave wash him away. Was this how he was going to go? As another wave fell over him, submerging him from loud screams of chaos into a muffled type of silence underwater, Mikey remembered his brothers and their last argument.

Gosh, he'd really screwed up. Had he seriously told Leo that he felt like he didn't love him? If he died here, it would tear his big brother all up. How could Mikey have done that?

Opening his eyes underwater, Mikey saw Angel and Hun getting swept by the current. He needed to get to the surface. He needed to fight, to live and tell Leo that he was sorry for being such a teenager. What did it matter that Leo got disappointed in him all the time? That was Leo, just being Leo. Doing his job. Caring.

Of course he loved him. Of course they all cared, they were his _family_.

His lungs were really starting to complain. Mikey was glad he didn't have his shoes on, because swimming was easier without heavy shoes bringing him down. He swam up and breached the surface, gasping for air.

Another wave was coming from all sides, but Mikey looked up. The rest of the rope was still there. It was way too high up, but maybe there was still a way to get there. The yokai had thrown Mikey out last time. Maybe this time…

The wave crashed down, but this time Mikey was prepared. He swam to the surface again, and shouted.

"Hey, _yokai!_ It's me! Remember? Mikey! I led you to Mr. Murakami!"

The world rumbled around him. Mikey wasn't sure where Mr. Murakami was right now, but it was clear that the yokai was still upset.

"You don't want me here," Mikey went on, treading the water and looking around in all directions for Angel and Hun. They were nowhere to be seen. Swallowing his fear, Mikey went on. "You don't need me to be here. You just wanted Angel and Hun, right? Kick me out, then!"

The world rumbled, and Mikey bit his lip, hoping his bluff would work.

A second passed, and Mikey feared it hadn't. The water level began to rise again. Then, after a second, Mikey realized so was _he_. His body lifted out of the water, and he was slowly moving towards the portal in the sky.

Turning around in midair, Mikey spotted everything else was, too. The yokai had listened! And turned the gravity off!

Then he spotted them, not too far away. Angel and Hun were still together, holding hands.

"Guys!" Mikey shouted, and tossed them the end of the rope that was still tied to his waist. Hun grabbed it. "Hang on tight!"

Then Mikey was being thrown out, feathers surrounding him and all. The blue feathers covered the glowing red sea, and he was back.

* * *

"Mikey's back!" someone shouted. Casey.

 _Yes, my back!_ Mikey thought as he landed on the pavement. He didn't bother standing up. _Ow! Poor back._

"Why is he drenched?" someone asked. Raph.

"Who cares? He's in one piece!" Donatello.

"Mikey!" someone exclaimed, and suddenly someone was by his side. Leo.

"Leo, I'm sorr-ohshootAngelandHunarestillinsidecrapcrapcrap!" Mikey yelled, sitting up and pulling on the rope that was almost pulling him back in. "Pull them out!"

The yokai stood before him, screeching. His brothers were huddled behind him, hovering but afraid to touch, like he was a tower of playing cards or something. Somewhere behind that he could hear Mr. Murakami still talking.

"It's okay, it's okay. Is he calm yet, Casey?" Mr. Murakami asked.

"No, definitely _not calm!_ " Casey bellowed over the yokai's screeches.

"Why are you _yelling_ so loudly?" Raph snapped. "We can all hear you just fine!"

"Because-yokai!" Mikey grunted, still pulling the rope backwards. "Help-me-pull!"

Suddenly Leo's hands were next to his, pulling on the rope as well. Donnie joined him, and Raph moved to get a section of rope to pull on, too. Together, the four of them pulled out Angel and Hun.

Mikey sighed and collapsed.

"What the heck?" Raph exclaimed, staring at the two kids. "So what, is there an entrance to _another dimension_ or something right here?"

"Sweet earth!" Hun yelped, kissed the ground.

Angel weakly crawled over to the grass, and laid her head down. "Nobody talk to me, I'm going to barf," she announced.

"So what just happened?" Donnie asked.

"Yokai. Feathers. Bird. Wanted revenge," Mikey said, out of breath. "I'll give you the unabridged version later. Is it seriously still Wednesday? Halloween?"

"In this dimension, yeah," Casey muttered.

"Weird," Mikey said, looking up at the sky. "'Cuz it feels like it's been about a month."

Without Angel and Hun, the yokai seemed to shrink in size. Mikey watched in amazement as the anger faded from the yokai, and it reverted into being something much smaller than it first was, back in the classroom when it had been summoned.

"Huh," Mikey said. "It looks like a real bird now."

"Except kind of… ethereal?" Casey added.

Mikey tilted his head and considered. It did look a little like it was glowing a little. But in a good way this time.

"What are you going on about?" Raph asked.

Behind Raph, Mr. Murakami picked his broom back up. Mikey sat up straighter as the yokai hopped over to the older man. Then it fluttered up to the top of Mr. Murakami's broomstick. As if he could sense the yokai, Mr. Murakami froze, and blinked his eyes in the space in front of him. Mikey watched as the yokai chirped something, and then faded into nothing.

"What a good friend he was," Mr. Murakami said softly. "He forgives."

There was a moment of silence, and Mikey looked at Angel and Hun, who probably had no idea what that had all been about. It was fine, though. Casey would fill them in on it. Maybe then they'd think twice before hurting innocent creatures.

Mikey felt eyes on him, and looked up to see Leo staring. Oh, right. Suddenly overcome with a new challenge, Mikey ducked his head. _Just say it, Mikey. Tell him you're sorry._ He opened his mouth.

"I'm sorry," Leo said, and Mikey looked up in surprise. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you, little brother. You don't lie. Raph and Donnie gave me an earful after you left."

"It's fine," Mikey said with a shrug. "I didn't know yokai were a thing before today, so… I don't blame you for thinking that. And I'm sorry, too, I… I've been messing up so bad lately. Sensei used to help me with homework sometimes, and now that he's gone everything just feels harder and pointless."

"I know," Leo said, and his eyes darkened. "We were all stuck in our own routines, and I never noticed, even though I should have. I should have been paying _more_ attention, if anything. I knew you were staying up late to finish your homework."

"S'not your fault," Mikey said quickly in his desperation to smooth it all over to make Leo stop feeling so bad. "I didn't exactly tell you, or ask for help. I'm just as much to blame, honestly."

Leo pushed a stray blond lock out of Mikey's eyes.

"You're a good kid, Mikey. If anything, you're probably the best of all of us. And if I _ever_ made you feel… like I didn't love you, or that you weren't good enough for us, then _I am so sorry, Mi_ -umph."

If there was one thing that Mikey was extraordinarily good at, it was giving hugs. He waited a beat, and then smiled into Leo's hoodie when he felt his oldest brother's arms tighten around him, locking them both in a hug that said more than words could.

"I want in on this," Donnie piped up, hugging them both from the side. Mikey grinned.

"Dogpile," was Raph's only warning before they were all squished in one group hug. Even though they were all sitting, they were still in danger of teetering over to one side.

Angel gagged. "Okay. Wow. I'm _actually_ going to barf."

"Don't. _That_ would take the cake of being the scariest thing I've seen today," Casey warned.

Mikey looked at him, and they made eye contact. Then they burst out laughing, much to everyone's confusion.

* * *

 **A/N: One more chapter left!**

 **Kudos if anyone caught where Mikey tapped on the fourth wall.**

 **Let me know what you thought!**


	6. finally thursday: an epilogue

**A/N: Here it is, the final chapter. Writing this story has been so much fun, and can I just take a moment to thank whoever nominated this story for Most In-Character Michelangelo? Because wow, thank you so much! Anyway, sit back and enjoy!**

* * *

It seemed like an eternity, but Halloween was finally over. It almost seemed like a dream. Or a nightmare, to be exact. But that was the thing about facing something scary like that-at least it put everything into perspective. Like schoolwork.

"Your next textbook assignment is due tomorrow night," their math teacher announced just as the last bell rang on Thursday. "Don't forget that there's a quiz tomorrow, too."

Everyone grumbled and started collecting their things to leave.

 _Hey, at least nobody's lives are in danger,_ Mikey thought as he slung his backpack over his shoulder.

Casey had texted him earlier that day to give him an update: Angel and Hun were fine, just shaken from the experience and more than a little hungover from drinking alcohol. Mr. Murakami seemed to be doing fine, too. His older brothers, however, were confounded by the fact that there were yokai, and that some people could see them and others couldn't.

"Look, I've never seen them before, either," Mikey had said that morning, in response to Donnie's intense questioning at breakfast. "It was just on Halloween."

"But you've never seen them before, like on previous Halloweens," Leo had pointed out, before raising an eyebrow ( _how did he do that?_ ) at him. "Or have you?"

Mikey had shaken his head no. He would have _remembered_ seeing a yokai before, if he had.

"Well, according to Dad's stories," Raph had said, his mouth full of cereal, "there are different types of yokai, right? Not every single one looks the same. Maybe you saw them before, but never realized because it was Halloween and everyone was in costume."

"But even in costume, no one looks _real_ ," Mikey had protested, a bit louder than he meant to. When his brothers had looked at him, he'd flushed. "Sorry. I guess I don't really want to believe they've always been there."

Donnie had lowered the paper he was holding, the one on which Mikey had drawn the bird yokai's likeness in blue crayon.

"So let's believe your theory, in which you were able to see the yokai yesterday because it was Halloween but not on any previous Halloweens. What was the trigger?" he'd asked.

Mikey hadn't had an answer for him.

 _I guess it doesn't matter,_ Mikey though wistfully as he opened his locker and pulled out his math textbook. _It'll be a whole year until I see one again, anyway._

It was kind of sad. A whole world of supernatural, and he'd barely learned of its existence before the day had ended. At least he had Casey Jones to talk to, who hadn't seen yokai ever before, either. He hadn't even told Casey the full story, of how the yokai had appeared in class after Fong's summoning circle-

 _Oh. The trigger._

Halting abruptly, Mikey gave himself the world's biggest facepalm and turned on his heel, 180 degrees, in the middle of the hallway. A group of girls walking in a horizontal line across the width of the hallway had to break apart in the middle with a few exasperated gasps, just to get around him.

Sprinting down the hallway, Mikey made a turn out the back doors and straight to the dumpsters, a location Bradford and his goons had somehow claimed as their official hangout spot. Though, on second thought, no one sane would want their hangout spot to be right next to trash.

Sure enough, the trio was there. Mikey stood on the top stair and leaned over the railing to where Bradford, Xever, and Fong were drawing something on a large piece of paper.

"No!" Mikey yelped. "No more magic circles!"

They looked up at him in alarm.

"Don't look at our top secret battle strategy!" Xever exclaimed, throwing his body over the large paper. He looked up at Mikey. "Sorry, nothing personal, but we can't have _leaks_. Bradford, squish the squirt."

Bradford shook his head. "I can't. Goes against _my code of conduct._ We can make him swear his allegiance to our cause, though. If not voluntarily, then by _peer pressure_. I vote blood oath as the symbol of loyalty."

"What is it with you and blood all the time?"

"Hey, Mikey," Fong greeted, like a normal person. "What's up?"

"The magic circle you drew yesterday," Mikey said. "You can't draw more of those anymore. It messes up the, uh, the feng shui? According… to… someone totally legit... who, uh, who definitely exists. Yeah."

The trio looked at each other. Mikey held his breath.

"We weren't planning on it, dude," Bradford said with a shrug. "Sure, we were into it this morning, but we were younger then. We've moved on to better things."

"Oh. Okay, good," Mikey said with a sigh. "What are you doing, then?"

"Creating a survival plan for a zombie apocalypse," the trio replied at once, and as if it were obvious. Seeing the look of bewilderment on Mikey's face, Bradford jumped into explain.

"I have mad respect for strategic battle plans," he said. "And also for being prepared. See, a zombie apocalypse is much more likely to happen than summoning a demon from a dusty old doodle."

"Yeah," Xever said in agreement, sitting up and off the paper, where Mikey could see a blueprint of their zombie apocalypse plans.

"Huh," Mikey said after a beat. "Cool beans. I'll catch you dudes later, then."

"Actually, the beans will be warm? Freshly heated over the fire, from our survival rations," Mikey heard Xever say as he left.

* * *

With no threat of any more magic circles being drawn to summon yokai, Mikey began his walk home, plugging in his earbuds for music. He checked his text messages from his brothers, who were planning pizza for dinner and wanted to know his input this time for toppings.

Grinning, Mikey started to text back, but something wild and orange caught his eye, and his head turned to see something cat-like perched on the metal fence that divided the playground from the street.

Cat- _like_ , because despite looking like regular cat, it also had multiple fluffy tails, two horns emerging from its forehead, and a pair of feathery wings that looked more fitting on an owl.

In other words, it wasn't a cat. Mikey's jaw dropped open.

 _What the-_

The cat yokai jumped off the metal fence and darted across the road, flapping its wings to gain speed.

"Hey, whoa, wait!" Mikey exclaimed, and broke into a run after it, questions piling up in his head. But it wasn't Halloween anymore! How could he see another yokai _now_? What did this mean?

The cat yokai shot into the sky and flew over a fence to get into the yard of the local library. Then it was back to running, with a clear preference to using its legs than its wings. Mikey jumped the fence with ease and ran across the green grass, alongside the gray-tone library building. His sneakers hit against the brick-styled pavement as he kept his eye on the yokai, but then he was turning a corner and screeched to a stop, because the yokai had slowed down.

There, along the front of the library on the entrance steps, was a girl about his age, with dirty blond hair, a blue sweater, and jeans. She had a book in her hands, and a backpack sat at her feet, on which the cat yokai jumped and perched itself on.

Mikey expected the yokai to leap over the girl's head, an move on, but it didn't. And then the _craziest thing ever_ happened.

The girl looked at the yokai.

"Oh, hello," she said pleasantly. "Ready to go home?"

The yokai purred and nuzzled its head into the girl's knees, making her coo.

"Yes, you _are_ a good boy!"

Mikey stared at the scene before him as his mind desperately tried to make sense of it. One thing he did know was that the girl seemed familiar. Hadn't he seen her at school before? He inhaled sharply when it clicked. She was the new kid, someone who'd arrived in town just last week, and was in his physics class. What was her name, again? Renet?

Mikey didn't realize he'd been walking towards them until he saw how close he'd gotten. Renet looked up at him, breaking off in her coddling of the yokai immediately. She seemed to recognize him, and offered an embarrassed smile.

"Yeah, so maybe it looked like I was totally just talking to myself, but I promise I'm not crazy," she joked.

Mikey blinked, and stared at the yokai when it purred again. Then he looked back up at Renet, whose eyes had followed his, and now were widening with realization. Then they spoke at the same time.

"Wait, you-"

"What did you-"

"You can see it, too?" they asked in unison.

Renet was the first to break into a smile, this time for real. "He followed me from my old town. His name is Klunk. Kind of cute, huh?"

Mikey gaped at her.

"I didn't know that there was anyone in this town who could see them," Renet went on, her eyes sparkling and her voice high pitched as if it had been bubbling inside of her for a while. "Spirits, I mean. Your town has a barrier, did you know? No spirit can enter just willy-nilly. Of course, Klunk is stubborn. Injured his wings a little on the way in, but now he's here. I think he just came for the tummy rubs I give him, spoiled thing."

"That's… amazing," Mikey said, lowering himself to sit down on the steps below them so he could see Renet and Klunk. He lifted his hand in Klunk's direction. "Can I…?"

"Sure," Renet said.

Mikey wasted no time in running his hand over Klunk's fluffy fur and soft feathers, scratching behind his horns. Klunk purred deeply, and closed his eyes. Mikey laughed, and Renet joined in, reaching over to comb her fingers through Klunk's feathers.

"So you've been seeing them your whole life?" Mikey asked in awe.

"All over the place, in my old town," Renet said with a nod. "Imagine my shock coming _here_ and finding _none_. If it weren't for Klunk, I would have thought I couldn't see spirits anymore."

It took a moment for Mikey to piece together what Renet was saying. She was a fast-talker.

 _Wait, a barrier?_

"So wait, you're telling me...," Mikey said slowly, "That someone...put some magical thing up to make this town yokai-free?"

"Yep," Renet said.

Mikey's mind was officially blown. There was a lot more to this supernatural side of the world than he'd originally thought up. The magic circle Fong had used must have been strong enough, or unorthodox enough, to break through the barrier.

Renet tilted her head thoughtfully.

"Huh, _yokai_. I forgot that's another word for them. Either way, I'm sure whoever did it had a genuine reason or concern to put up the barrier. Some spirits aren't all that nice."

" _That_ I do know," Mikey said with a laugh. When Renet tilted her head, he shrugged. "It's a long story."

Renet pretended to check her wrist, as if there were a watch there.

"I have time," she said with a grin. "Wanna talk about it? I'd love to listen. It's been so long, you know, since I met someone like me."

"Sure. But you should get comfy. It all happened yesterday, on Halloween," Mikey said, leaning back on the palms of his hands on the stairs. Then, mostly to himself, "Wow. I can't believe it all happened yesterday."

Renet leaned her head on Klunk's.

"I'm Renet, by the way," she added, like an afterthought. And then quickly, blurted, "And you're… Michelangelo, right?"

Mikey beamed.

"My friends call me Mikey. It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too," Renet said. "So tell me, Mikey. How did you spend your Halloween?"

* * *

Mikey had never expected to be special, in any sense of the word. He was regular. Average. But as he told the entire story to his new friend Renet, who was like him and Casey, his heart swelled in a weird kind of excitement. He couldn't wait to share everything with his older brothers during pizza night. And he didn't mind that tomorrow would bring more challenges, school and otherwise.

Maybe it was the new friends he'd made, or the fact that he'd patched everything up with his older brothers, or even the lingering feelings of fighting an evil yokai and winning, but as Renet laughed in delight from his story and Klunk's fur warmed his hands, Mikey didn't find taking on the world so daunting.


End file.
